At a ceremony in the Cankar Centre in Ljubljana, Dora Domajnko was named Slovenia’s first ever Female Engineer of the Year. The Development Engineer at RLS, a Renishaw associate company, was presented with the award for being an outstanding inspiration for young people. The award was organised by Let’s Be Engineers!, an initiative that encourages more young people to consider engineering careers.

The youngest on the ten-person shortlist, Domajnko has had an impressive career to date. She has an MSc in Electrical Engineering and is now studying for a PhD at the University of Ljubljana alongside her work at RLS. As an undergraduate, Domajnko received the Dean’s Award for Learning Success four times. Now at RLS, she specialises in developing mathematical algorithms for rotary and linear magnetic encoders.

“Engineering is my dream career,” explained Domajnko. “To many young girls, engineering is an unknown. As an industry, we need to ensure young girls are getting enough information about the benefits of a career in engineering and that they know that engineering is for everybody.”

“There is a misconception amongst many children and young people that engineering is only for boys,” added Chris Pockett, Head of Communications at Renishaw. “Talented engineers like Dora can raise the profile of women in engineering. By explaining the importance of engineers in society and providing strong role models, we can help to increase the numbers of female engineers entering the workforce.”

The Let’s Be Engineers! initiative brings together engineers, researchers, students and businesses in science and engineering to share their experiences with school students. Similarly, in the UK, Renishaw runs an education outreach programme involving workshops, activities and events to encourage more young people, especially girls, to consider engineering careers.

RLS d.o.o. is a Slovenian-based world leader in the development of high-performance magnetic encoder feedback solutions and together with its associate company Renishaw offers worldwide sales and technical support.